Due to the work of Byzantine and Islamic scholars, ancient Greek science and scholarship found their way into the West. Europeans had been separated from their classical cultural heritage for almost eight centuries. No other world civilization had experienced such a disjunction from its cultural past. There were many events in history prior to this that led to the unfolding of this classic revival. Between 1300 and 1500, education had become far more accessible, their was the birth of humanism, and the invention of the printing press. Many prominent men influenced this time: Dante, Chaucer, Erasmus, Calvin, and Leonardo. The later Middle Ages were thus a period of growth and creativity leading into the renaissance. One of the greatest works of the Middle Ages literature is Dante’s Divine Comedy. Despite his engagement in political affairs and the fact that he was a layman, he managed to acquire an awesome mastery of the religious, philosophic, and literary knowledge of his time. In 1302, Dante was expelled from Florence after a political upheaval and was forced to live the rest of his life in exile. Dante’s Divine Comedy is a monumental narrative in powerful rhyming Italian verse, which describes the poet’s journey through hell, purgatory, and paradise. Historically Dante summed up the best of learning in the Middle Ages in such an artistically manner. Dante stressed the precedence of salvation, but he viewed the earth as existing for human benefit. He allowed humans free will to choose well and avoid evil, and accepted Greek philosophy as authoritative in its own sphere. Dante’s sense of hope and his ultimate faith in humanity, was the most powerful expressed the dominant mood of the High Middle Ages.Chaucer was a founding father of England’s mighty literary tradition and one of the four or five greatest contributors to it. Chaucer wrote several highly impressive works, but his masterpiece is unquestio...
